the cellar/the food and a snake or 2! AGHHHHHHHH

Yes you read right! We cleaned the cellar up, took in some shelfs, filled the cellar with water, figured out why the sump pump had not worked, pumped the water out and its now drying nicely! So yesterday I go down, we were moving all the shelfs onto bricks so they wont be sitting in water and get ruined, also so the water can get through to the pump easier. I walk down the stairs and look over, snake skin! new SNAKE SKIN. i CALMLY TURN GO UPSTAIRS AND FREAK OUT! Back down again. This time I make kids go with to help, and we get through putting 2 shelfs on bricks, no live snakes! Whew! I start doing stuff to the one shelf, with Nanna and Boo are lifting the other 2 shelfs onto bricks, they move one shelf and another SNAKE SKIN!! ok so I have 2 NEW snake skins, no clue where the snakes are other than somewhere in my basement! WAAAAAAAAAAAA I hate snakes, they are horrid, I hate them. I would rather bugs,spiders and mice! So I continue putting food on shelfs. I have moved most of the cans/jars down stairs. I dont want any boxed,bagged or anything like that in the basement. It iopened up a lot of room upstairs getting all the food downstairs. I have a fan going to dry it out soon. It would not be as wet as it is but the sump pump did not turn on when the water first came in and I did not know till it was pretty deep. I have that fixed and it does not get out of the hole it sits in now.
I never found the snakes. I know the skins are new, the one was not there on Tuesday when I was down there. So anyone know how to get rid of them? I am trying real hard not to freak over snakes in my house! But it wont take much for me to freak out
heres some pics!

Cleaning the cellar!

The cellar is all cleaned! Now we are organizing, bringing in shelfs, putting canned foods down there and making it useable! The shelfs we took in will be remodeled. I am going to put a small piece of wood at the bottom of each shelf- after removing the doors. Then we can lay the cans down and stack them that way. I will be able to organize by food type and keep it more organized I hope! We have all(well most) of the jars for canning stacked on the top edge, some are in a couple shelfs and in a drawer. There is a cool chair, it has hinges and will move so its a step ladder. I was going to throw it away, its in bad shape. Nanna said "mom you can fix it, clean it up and redo it, make it look new" And well I love to do that kind of stuff so I kept it. Like I really need another project!

It doesw look lots better down there now. And if we do have to go down due to a storm the kids wont be as scared to be down there now. We have some blankets in the deep freezer that does not work down there. They will stay clean there and if we have to use it as shelter we can pull them out to use and not have to worry about taking them down there.

I'll be starting the work on the outside of the house soon. I need the weather to co operate for it. I think I have figured out how I will do most of it. Not all but most. I have figured out how to do the porch awning, it will be easier than I thought! The hardest part is going to be the roof, the spot I need to reshingle. I can do it myself, but I cant get to it easily, and well I hate heights!!! But unless I can find someone to volunteer it looks like I get to do it myself. WAAAAAAAA

SO here are some new pics of the cellar. I'll keep updating as we go. Right now the cans are just stuffed in the shelfs and they are not done how I want. I have to get time to change the way they are set up. Hopefully soon.

                             

clean up the cellar!

So Nanna is home for a few days, partly to help me with a few things around the house- one being the cellar! So you have see the before pics- if not just scroll through the blog, There are pics. ITS HORRIBLE! So last night we gloved up, put on masks and went in!

We are not even close to done but so far we have removed- 2 big garbage cans full of old jars of food, old kitchen appliances- radio that was scary! I believe it was 4 lawn and leaf bags, 2 garbage cans! This is the junk, garbage, broken stuffs. I am keeping all the jars! There are so many its unreal. I found a blender that's in perfect condition- its just the blender- not the electrical part. It looks like its never been used. There are 3 bird cages- in good shape. Not sure what to do with them, I do not do birds in my house. I may see if I can find a buyer. There is also an old potty chair. and spiders!! Nanna yells mom a spider- freaking out, I spot it, its on the table! I had no clue I was so flexible- the Tai chi and walking is paying off! I lifted my leg high enough to smash that spider! Its amazing what old card board boxes do when left to sit for years, they get gross, crumble and are gross!

We spent a couple hours down there. We have lots more to go. I plan on cleaning it up good enough, organizing all the jars so they are not all over and using it for y food storage. I shop Aldis and have food all over upstairs. Don't right I can get it all down there, nice and neat. Only the can goods, nothing in bags. Well there is the gigantic deep freezer- it does not work but holds things well. I have my food storage in bags inside it. I am thinking its a good spot for the wheat also.

I took pics to keep track of progress so I am putting them here for y'all to see. Dulie called while we were down there. I found 2 pretty light covers, she likes the pretty pink one. So I'll send it to her. Otherwise it was headed for the garbage can! Save by the Dulie! So here's the pics

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be 'full-time moms,' at least during the most formative years of their children's lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part- or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
M. Russell Ballard

So I went downstairs and took some pics of all the mess! there are so many jars its unreal. I have some masks I bought and I am going to clean it up, organize it and hopefully make it look better. I cant wait to be able to use the jars! They have already been coming in handy. I have cleaned out several gallon jars to hold our rice,beans and pastas, brown sugar, flax, granola,and other stuff like that. There are still more to use plus all the smaller jars. There are also the old milk jugs! Those just look cool, but then I like jars for some reason. So I thought I would share with you the messy view of my cellar. After its clean I will share more pics!

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be 'full-time moms,' at least during the most formative years of their children's lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part- or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
M. Russell Ballard